Tag Archives: knit dress

The Past Couple of Weeks

Hello to you from rainy, rainy, rainy! northern Illinois. The rain has been coming down since last night. It’s still warm at the moment, but we are in for a big change later on today. So the rain will stop, but then it will get cold! Cold like we haven’t seen for many months. Not ready! This temperature drop will seem like a slap in the face. OW!

These past couple of weeks have been beautiful though. I’ve been getting outside most days for walks in the sunshine and to simply enjoy nature. We have quite a few forest preserves around here and also some quiet roads. Last weekend I visited one of the nearby forest preserves.

At one point on the trail it was an open expanse as far as the eye could see.

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The colors of fall are showing up in the plants, but not yet the trees (except here and there).

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When I have portable work and don’t feel like staying at home to do it I like to visit nearby coffee shops; this one is so cute. It has 5 rooms with tables and chairs in each. I think I previously showed you a photo when my daughter and I spent a Friday afternoon here. My favorite room is this south facing room with these big windows.

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Here is a look into the main room while I was working on my knitting.

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And here is another room off of the room I was in. The doorway to the left shows a room for the little ones. There are lots of toys in there. I’ve never seen any children using it; perhaps they are here at different times.

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The dress I was knitting while at the coffee shop is now completed: knit, blocked, buttons added…

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… and Gina modeling it. Here’s a sneak peak from my sewing room this morning. I want to add a little more embroidery (it’s at the hemline) and a pretty red ribbon around the waist. I have the perfect little accessory for her to hold; I’ll show you later. Both girls still need tights and I want to come up with an accessory for Alice. So, these two ensembles are almost completed.

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Now, I must go get some rest. I’ve been fighting a cold all week (my husband brought one home from traveling over a week ago!). I thought I had succeeded in not catching it, but no. Today I know I am definitely sick. At least the weather matches my symptoms!

I hope you are well and enjoying beautiful weather where you are. Thank you for stopping by, my friends. ❤

What I’m Working On…

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Hi, my friends! I wanted to pop in quickly and show you what I’ve been working on. I have been knitting…

I am working on a pattern expansion for Amelia Thimble’s sweater dress pattern here. This will not be a full pattern (you will need the original to complete the dress); the expansion will contain additional instructions to make a longer, fuller skirt with a ruffle at the hemline. I’ve seen independent sewing pattern companies offer expansion packs with their sewing patterns and I think it’s a great idea. It will be one to two weeks before this pattern expansion is ready. I still need to write out the mini pattern and then test it.

Here is a photo from the first sweater dress I made using this idea. These skirts are actually how I first started knitting sweater dresses for Amelia Thimble back in 2012. I made a few changes for this 2019 version. Here is Amelia Thimble doing a little fall clean up. She is such a helpful little doll, isn’t she? 😉 BTW, Amelia Thimble’s pumpkin hat was made using Amelia Thimble’s Hat Set pattern.

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I’ve been knitting a sweater dress for the Little Darlings. I was inspired by this striped sweater and reworked my Little Darling sweater dress pattern to include some colorful stripes. I also changed the garter edgings to ribbed edgings.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing over the past few days. What have you been working on?

❤

June is… Here!

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Yay it’s June!!!

Hello to you all!

These past weeks I’ve been enjoying spring time here in northern Illinois. That is, weather permitting. We had a most dreary and rainy May, but that didn’t stop me from finding those rare days and to enjoy the blossoms growing around me and at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

English Walled Garden, Chicago Botanic Gardens

Hutch of grape hyacinths, English Walled Garden

Lily-of-the-valley, Chicago Botanic Gardens

Lily-of-the-valley, Chicago Botanic Gardens

Apple blossoms, my yard

Lilac blossoms, my yard

Phlox in full bloom, my yard

Forget-me-nots, my yard

My planters and Kitty

I’ve also been doing a little knitting, and I mean a little, sorry nothing more to show. I am finding it hard getting my knitting and ‘making’ mojo back after my hiatus. My mind wants to create, create, create, but my body is still slow. By the way, I thank you all for being patient with me. There is so much I want to do… I have faith things will improve albeit rather slowly.

Here is something I managed to accomplish. I won’t mention how long this took to knit…

Off my knitting needles and currently blocking is a sweater dress for the Little Darlings. When picking out a color for this project, sunny yellow seemed the perfect color to knit with during our dreary spring weather.

The sweater dress is knit with Aunt Lydia’s bamboo thread. It’s comparable to #10 cotton crochet thread, but has lots more drape. I love this thread, and was very disappointed when it was discontinued by Red Heart. I’ve also used this bamboo thread interchangeably with fingering weight yarn. The stitch gauge is pretty much the same (maybe a tad smaller, but needs no adjustment). However, garments knit up shorter, which can easily be adjusted by adding some additional rows.

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I’ve previously made three sweater dresses for the Little Darlings out of this thread (see photos below). I think embroidery really looks delicate and beautiful on these dresses. I look forward to picking out colors and getting started!